If President George W. Bush gets his way, the United States will begin two initiatives that… If President George W. Bush gets his way, the United States will begin two initiatives that will cost billions of dollars and will leave a gigantic legacy of debt, homophobia and xenophobia.

For months, administration officials have been planning a proposal, costing at least $1.5 billion, to help couples sustain healthy marriage through better interpersonal skills. Several studies have indicated that children growing up in a two-parent household fare the best, so the proposal is putatively aimed at making life better for American children, and seems innocuous, even beneficial.

Not so, upon closer look.

The program, of course, would only be available to heterosexual couples. The hypocrisy in that stricture is sickening. Gay parents exist, and it’s conceivable that in today’s officially homophobic society, they might need a little help keeping things in the home running smoothly. Ignoring gay parents won’t make them go away, and denying them support won’t make their children’s lives any easier.

The program wants to get into the lives of American couples. That doesn’t sound much like small government. Instead, it is a direct, knee-jerk reaction to a perceived threat to the institution of marriage in the form of gay marriage in Massachusetts. The institution of marriage has been around a lot longer than compassionate conservatism, and it’s likely it will somehow limp on long after Bush is gone.

The second proposal is, quite simply, a ludicrous idea, a phenomenal waste of money, and one more step in what seems to be Bush’s plan to secede from the world at large.

The President wants to return Americans to the moon by 2015. He also wants to strive to get humans to Mars. By 2010, he wants the United States to withdraw from the International Space Station.

If the nation were in times of prosperity, it would be wonderful to see such a commitment to scientific exploration. The nation, however, is in financial trouble. This space program, then, would merely be a white elephant, a financial burden whose returns don’t match the investment. Pulling out of the International Space Station just smacks of taking our ball and going home, because we don’t want to play with the rest of the world.

It’s ironic that, in light of the proposal to shore up marital unions in America, Bush is methodically divorcing us from the rest of the world.